Æ35 - Gordian III ΕΠΙ ϹΤΡ Γ ΚΛ ΓΛΥΚΩΝΟϹ ΡΟΥΦΕΙΝΙΑΝΟΥ ΙΠΠΙΚΟΥ ΠΡΩΤΩΝ Γ ΝΕΩΚΟΡΩΝ ΠΕΡΓΑΜΗΝΩΝ

The magistrate name running through this coin's lengthy legend — Γ ΚΛ ΓΛΥΚΩΝΟϹ ΡΟΥΦΕΙΝΙΑΝΟΥ — identifies a local strategos of equestrian rank (ΙΠΠΙΚΟΥ), one of the civic officials who competed fiercely for the honor of sponsoring imperial coinage at Pergamum during this period. Such magistracies were expensive public liturgies, and the men who held them expected their names to survive in bronze. Under Gordian III, Pergamum held the distinction of ΠΡΩΤΩΝ Γ ΝΕΩΚΟΡΩΝ — three times neokoros — a title granted for maintaining imperial cult temples, and one the city defended aggressively against rival claimants like Smyrna.